


Tubbo's Mistakes

by crypticKC



Series: A New Start [1]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Pogtopia - Fandom, l'manberg - Fandom, manberg - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prequel, Toby Smith | Tubbo Needs a Hug, Villain Jschlatt (Video Blogging RPF)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:43:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27385147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crypticKC/pseuds/crypticKC
Summary: Tubbo is human just like everyone else, he makes mistakes sometimes. Unfortunately for Tubbo, the president of Manberg doesn't treat his mistakes the same way he treats everyone elses.Prequel fic for A New Start, Tubbo lives in Manberg still, and no one knows how much Schlatt hates him.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Jschlatt, Jschlatt & Toby Smith | Tubbo
Series: A New Start [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2000536
Comments: 17
Kudos: 443





	1. Out of Turn

**Author's Note:**

> CW: For physical abuse

After so long, Tubbo learns the pattern of these stupid 'business' meetings. There were two types, both entirely dependent on Schlatt's unstable moods. You never knew what you were walking into. Sometimes he would joke around for an hour and not talk about anything of importance, and sometimes he would want to speak about real issues in Manberg. 

Today appeared to be one of the latter. This was actually good news for Tubbo. Whenever Schlatt was in a 'funny' mood, there was a decent chance Tubbo ended up as the butt of the jokes. During these serious meetings, he was pretty much ignored, and he could tune them all out. Tubbo was preparing himself to do just that when the meeting began.

"So, what's the news about that ridiculous rebel faction?" Schlatt prompts. Ugh. Tubbo tries even harder to ignore them. For obvious reasons, this topic was significantly more anxiety inducing for him than, say, taxes.

"Well, we did find one of their bases, but it was abandoned by the time we got there. So, no arrests were made." Fundy replies, pulling up corresponding images. 

"Hm. Unfortunate. Oh well, blow it up." Schlatt responds flippantly. 

"Now, on to-"

"Um, actually Schlatt, there's a building inside of the blast radius for that. One of ours," Fundy interrupts. 

Schlatt lets out an annoyed sigh.

"Well? Which one is it?" 

Fundy pulls up the info, a picture flashes on screen. 

"Oh, it's Nikki's. It's a part of her bakery."

"You seriously interrupted me for that Fundy? Who cares, blow it up."

Quackity spoke up, "Uh, I don't… are we sure about that, Schlatt? It's just… Nikki might not be happy about it. Maybe we should at least let her know beforehand so she can move her stuff?" 

"Big Q, buddy, are you hard of hearing? Did you not tell me that?" Schlatt taunts.

"I told you what I want. _Now get it done_."

When Schlatt demands something directly like that, when he dips into _that_ tone, it should have been the end of it. But Quackity is bold, or stupid, he keeps pushing.

"Sir, she provides our nation with quite a bit of food… Like, most of it? I don't think it's wise." 

Schlatt's eyes widen as Quackity finishes the sentence. He turns to him, 

"Oooooh! You don't think it's _wise_ , huh? The great _Quackity_ doesn't think my presidential decision is _wise_ everybody! Listen to that!" 

He drops the mocking tone, and rolls his eyes.

"Give me a break, like YOU have any idea what's good for this country. Quackity you are the dumbest person on this cabinet, you know that right?" Quackity looks down quickly to hide the hurt from his face, but Schlatt has moved on already, and is addressing the table at large again. 

"There is _nothing_ that we need from that girl, you all hear me? I don't even know why she's still a citizen, honestly. We would miss _nothing_ from her absence."

Tubbo, who was content in being completely zoned out, mutters a quiet, "pft, yeah, except maybe _edible food_ …" 

Schlatt whips his head around to face Tubbo, and reality crashes down on him. He knows he's made a grave, grave error. He hadn't meant to speak that comment aloud. Schlatt glares at him for a moment with pure rage before his expression changes to a sick, fake smile. 

"Oh, that's funny Tubbo! You know, you're a real funny guy. We've got a lot of funny guys this meeting don't we? Everyone laugh at Tubbo's joke! Come on! Don't be rude!" 

The table produces a few artificial laughs. 

"Tubbo, would you mind speaking with me in private for a moment?"

He doesn't wait for an answer before rising from his seat and walking into the hallway. Tubbo has no choice but to follow him. Quackity tries to catch his eye, to silently apologize, something, but Tubbo just stares down to the floor and follows Schlatt out.

The door shuts behind him, and they're in the hallway. 

"Tubbo, do I pay you to make jokes at my important meetings?" He asks.

Well, he didn't pay them at all, but this was not the time to mention that.

"No, Schla-"

"Tubbo, is it your job to make me look STUPID in front of my own cabinet?"

"No-"

"Then why are you SITTING THERE. MAKING JOKES? HUH?"

Tubbo feels himself cringe as Schlatt raises his voice. He wants to hide, but there's nowhere to go. 

"I- I'm sorry. It was a mistake, I swear-"

Schlatt steps towards him, and Tubbo is backing up into the hallway, to no avail. He knows there's no escaping this. He feels his composure leave him as fear sets in. He hates this bit, he hates groveling, he wishes he could just be brave and take it silently, but he's _scared_ -

"Schlatt ple- please, you kno- I would never- SCHLATT PLEAS-"

He's struck across the face so hard his ears ring. Gravity tries to take him down to the floor, but Schlatt's grabbing his arm and yanking him up. 

"YOU _NEVER_ DISRESPECT ME LIKE THAT AGAIN." He screams.

"I'm sorry…" Tubbo is saying. By the second time, the shock of the first hit has worn off, letting him feel the full effect. Pain.

"You are the most _worthless_ little shit I have _ever_ …" Schlatt is saying. He releases Tubbo's arm in disgust, letting him drop to the floor.

"Get the fuck out of my conference room, you're dismissed until further notice."

He returns back to his meeting, now filled with very uneasy cabinet members.

" _Does anyone else have any shit to say??_ " Tubbo is hearing as the door shuts. Then he's alone.

\------------

He hates this part too, that he still cries. He shouldn't, he should be used to this by now, but he still does. He feels so _small_ , so worthless. He can't believe he fucked up that bad, Schlatt was right about one thing, he's so _stupid_. 

He doesn't have time to dwell on it. He stumbles upward up and begins to walk. He can't remain here long, no matter how shaken up he is. He half walks-half runs to his room, one of the many identical ones assigned to Manberg officials. He's thankful no one was usually milling about this time of day, no one would see him. The walk calms him down some, enough that he's not shaking too badly anymore as he unlocks his door. He looks at himself in the mirror. His face was bleeding, it had gotten all over Tubbo's shirt. He hadn't even noticed. He'd need to change.

He works absentmindedly on cleaning himself up, allowing him to think.

In the back of his head, he noticed that this was the closest Schlatt had ever done that to other people, he wonders if they heard anything… Would it even matter if they did, though? What could they even do, Schlatt was within his rights to do what he wanted with Tubbo. Assuming they even cared…

He's interrupted by his door opening. He doesn't need to look to know who.

Tubbo doesn't turn to Schlatt as he approaches. Probably a dumb idea, but he doesn't care. Schlatt goes to him quietly. Gently, Schlatt reaches to grab his face, lifting Tubbo's head until he's looking at him. Tubbos sees he showed no signs of the anger that was present in the hallway. Schlatt appraised him calmly, assessing the damage, he assumed. His thumb ran softly over the cut one of his rings must have given him. 

"Why do you make me do this to you Tubbo?"

Tubbo said nothing.

"You know I dislike it just as much as you do, right? I _want_ us to get along, buddy, I do." 

His voice was hoarse as he responded,

"I know, Schlatt." He lies. He _knows_ it's a lie, but he couldn't help but feel… bad. The seeds of doubt are in his mind, whispering to him that this was probably all his fault.

"If you would just behave, we wouldn't have to fight so much, Tubbo. Why do you never behave?"

Tubbo just looks at the floor, ashamed, and gives no answer. A small part of him agrees, if he would have just shut up, Schlatt wouldn't have had to… 

"Tubbo. Listen to me." The hand holding his face jerks his head up, forcing him to meet his eyes again. His grip is no longer gentle, claws digging into his skin. Tubbo thinks they're drawing blood now, but he remains silent still. Schlatt's tone is still calm, but there's a new threat to his voice. 

"You need to start behaving. I have shit that's coming up, important shit, okay? If you fuck any of it up… if you pull one of your _stupid_ stunts… Oh, man. I'm going to _kill you_. Do you understand that?"

"Yes, Schlatt." He manages. The hand releases his face. 

"Very good! I'm glad we talked, Tubbo." He says as he gets up to leave. Tubbo is left to bandage his wounds.


	2. Rising Sun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter CW: depictions of violence, swearing

He found that Schlatt was always nice to him for a certain buffer period after he hit him, and this time was no exception, despite the greater amount of stress Schlatt was under. Regardless, the leftover bruises are enough for him to do his best the next few days to not mess anything up.

It seemed to work for a while, just like it always did. One night after he had organized all the chests in the basement, he had even gotten _praise_ out of Schlatt. During those moments, when he smiles at him and pats him on the back, it's almost easy to imagine that things were okay, like they _could_ be friends, just like he said… 

Those moments never lasted, though. 

It was all too soon before Schlatt started to get irritable with him again, his insults more frequent, more biting, his patience with any perceived imperfections waning. And they’re back at square one again. Such is life, he guesses. 

Tubbo’s next mistake happens about a week later. That day had actually started relatively well, Tubbo, Tommy and Wilbur usually tried to meet up as much as was safe, but that was a bit of a rare occurrence. In the meantime, they had decided to communicate via letters. Tubbo wrote all necessary news of Manberg to Wilbur, but Tommy and Tubbo’s letters were just for fun. Eret, bless them, decided a while ago that they didn’t mind delivering news and letters from whichever side wanted it. Eret never gained trust easily nowadays, given their background, but whenever Tubbo saw Eret walking towards him with an armful of paper that he _knew_ was from Tommy, it was hard to not let bygones be gone.

He loved the letters, it was like the _one_ time when it felt like he could forget about the war for just a second, and read Tommy’s rushed, messy streams of consciousnesses. Reading those letters felt like Tommy was there with him, and that made him both happy and deeply, deeply homesick. He tried to focus on happy, and laugh at the stupid jokes his friend sent him. He spent that night slowly writing his responses to his stories, telling him anecdotes of his own, and when he looked up- oh my god, _was it dark already_?? Oh man, he was going to be dead on his feet for tomorrow's meeting for sure, it was scheduled for sunrise. He shoves all of his letters and inks into their shelf on his desk, and plops into bed. Sleep finds him quickly, this night it takes him to a dream. It's a rare nice one, Tommy and him are together outside, they’re shooting arrows lazily at a target. Tommy makes jokes that slip away into dream purgatory as soon as they're spoken, but they're having fun. When sleep resides and returns him back to consciousness, he's so content, comfortable, he wants to lay in bed forever. Then, reality. 

He has a meeting, ugh. He wishes he could just lay here in the sun for-

wait. The sun? Yes, he didn't need to open his eyes to see the brightness, feel the warmth. The sun was up. _He was late._

Tubbo scrambles up to his feet and runs toward his closet, grabbing the first stupid suit he sees. He's fiddling with his tie when he hears his door open. His stomach drops. There was only one other person with a key.

" _Schlatt!_ Hey!" He puts on a honey sweet smile, 

"How're you?! I was just on my way to-"

"Meeting's over, Tubbo."

"Oh… well, uh, I'm super sorry about that! I just… I guess I overslept and-"

"Oh, Tubbo, you poor thing. So tired all the time." Schlatt whines, fake pity coating his voice.

"Uh, I mean... I guess?"

"Yeah, remind me, what exactly do you have to be tired about Tubbo? All you ever fucking do around here is sit around and complain! In fact, I remember asking you a week ago to fix the wheat farm, but on my way here to _wake up_ your bitch ass, I saw it, and it's still fucked up!" He gripes.

"Sorry, I, uh, can go do it right now-" He mutters, pointedly grabbing a hoe from the chest, and making towards the door. He doesn't care if he's farming all day if he can get out of _this one._

Schlatt snatches Tubbo's arm before he can get to the door, stopping him in his tracks. Ow, shit- he's holding him _hard_. Tubbo grits his teeth to keep from making any noise. 

"I don't think so, Tubbo." Schlatt says.

He's not sure why, maybe it's the pain in his arm, or his lack of sleep, but Tubbo feels his patience waning. He's so tired of these fucking head games Schlatt plays.

"What do you want Schlatt?" He asks. Schlatt paused momentarily, and Tubbo continues,

"Why did you even come? Literally anyone could have come to wake me, but you came yourself. What's your problem, man? For once, can you just fucking spit it out without doing this stupid… _act_?"

Schlatt's grip on Tubbo's arm tightens, this time Tubbo couldn't clamp his mouth shut fast enough to stop a yelp of pain. Schlatt's glare is piercing, but Tubbo still manages to meet it without flinching back.

"You want me to cut the shit, kid? Fine."

His arm is released, but he doesn't get time to feel relieved, because Schlatt suddenly smacks him hard. 

He grits his teeth as he recoils, struggling to keep silent. This time, he's determined not to give Schlatt _anything_ . Not beg, cry, speak, anything that lets the bastard _win_. He recovers enough to look back up, and finds Schlatt looking down on him with disgust. 

" _God,_ you're so _stupid_." He spits. "One of these days you won't be here, Tubbo, you'll be as disgraced as your _worthless_ friends, and Manberg will be better off."

" _Don't talk about them._ " Tubbo hisses.

"What're _you_ going to do, Tubbo?" He laughs, "Go fix the wheat." Schlatt orders. A dismissal, an opportunity, but Tubbo doesn't take it. 

"Fuck you." Tubbo spits back. 

Another blow lands, this time causing Tubbo to cry out. His ears ring. His shirt is being grabbed roughly, he's dragged around the room to the door, and shoved into it. 

"GO FIX THE FUCKING WHEAT." Schlatt's voice booms. Too disoriented to argue further, Tubbo's shaky hands find the door handle, and he leaves. Another mistake, added to the tally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shorter chapter pog!  
> I actually just got a big burst of inspiration for where to take this, I think I'm going to make it into a proper prequel fic! I'm excited!
> 
> also, I'm not really used to naming chapters lol lmk if its weird


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